This invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method for extracting ruled lines present in the image of an entered original.
When ruled lines are to be extracted in the image of an original having a plurality of such lines using a conventional image processing apparatus, the conventional practice is to calculate a density histogram of the image of the original and extract the ruled lines based upon the density histogram calculated, or to extract the ruled lines based upon continuity of pixels in the image of the original.
With the conventional image processing apparatus described above, however, ruled lines in the image of an original cannot be extracted accurately or characters are mistakenly extracted as ruled lines if the ruled lines are skewed, blurred, positionally displaced or are of different sizes, by way of example.
Further, there are methods available in which the extraction of ruled lines on an original image having a specific format is performed with greater accuracy by acquiring information indicative of positions of the ruled lines from the format. However, such methods cannot be applied to an original image other than one having the specific format.